AncientFaces Your browser does not support JavaScript!
Please enable JavaScript to view the entire contents of this page.

Bill Watrous 1939 - 2018

Bill Watrous was born on June 8, 1939, and died at age 79 years old on July 2, 2018. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Bill Watrous.

Bill Watrous

June 8, 1939

July 2, 2018

Male

Looking for someone else

Bill Watrous Bill Watrous (1939 - 2018)

ADVERTISEMENT BY ANCESTRY.COM

This page exists for YOU
and everyone who remembers Bill.

Share what you know,
even ask what you wish you knew.

Invite others to do the same,
but don't worry if you can't...

Someone, somewhere will find this page,
and we'll notify you when they do.

Bill Watrous' History: 1939 - 2018

Uncover new discoveries and connections today by sharing about people & moments from yesterday.

- Discover how AncientFaces works.

Introduction

Bill Watrous Birth name William Russell Watrous III Born June 8, 1939, Middletown, Connecticut, U.S. Died July 2, 2018 (aged 79), Los Angeles, California Genres Jazz Occupation: Musician Instruments Trombone Associated acts Ten Wheel Drive Manhattan Wildlife Refuge William Russell Watrous III (June 8, 1939 – July 2, 2018) was an American jazz trombonist. He is perhaps best known by casual fans of jazz music for his rendition of Sammy Nestico's arrangement of the Johnny Mandel ballad "A Time for Love" which he recorded on a 1993 album of the same name. A self-described "bop-oriented" player, he was well known among fellow trombonists as a master technician and for his mellifluous sound. Biography Bill Watrous at Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society, Half Moon Bay CA 7/23/89 Watrous' father, also a trombonist, introduced him to the instrument at an early age. While serving in the U.S. Navy, Watrous studied with jazz pianist and composer Herbie Nichols. His first professional performances were in Billy Butterfield's band. Watrous' career blossomed in the 1960s. He played and recorded with many prominent jazz musicians, including Maynard Ferguson, Woody Herman, Quincy Jones, Johnny Richards, and trombonist Kai Winding. He also played in the house band on the Merv Griffin Show from 1965 to 1968. In 1971, he played with the jazz fusion group Ten Wheel Drive. Also in the 1970s, Watrous formed his own band, The Manhattan Wildlife Refuge Big Band, which recorded two albums for Columbia Records. The band was later renamed Refuge West when Watrous moved to southern California. He continued to work as a bandleader, studio musician, and performer at jazz clubs. In 1983, Watrous collaborated with Alan Raph to publish Trombonisms, an instructional manual covering performance techniques for trombone. He has recorded as a solo artist, bandleader, and in small ensembles. These recordings include a Japanese Import album in 2001 containing material recorded in 1984 with Carl Fontana, whom Watrous has cited as his favorite trombonist. He traveled periodically to San Diego to play with his good friend and former student, Dave Scott, a noted jazz musician himself and TV broadcast host. Watrous taught for two decades at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, before retiring in 2015. He died in Los Angeles on July 2, 2018. He was survived by his wife, Maryann; their son, Jason; and two daughters from a previous marriage – Melody Watrous Ide and Cheryl Schoolcraft.
06/8

1939

Birthday

June 8, 1939

Birthdate

Unknown

Birthplace

ADVERTISEMENT BY
Military Service

The younger Mr. Watrous played with traditional jazz groups around Connecticut before joining the Navy at 18. He was assigned to a Navy Band unit in San Diego, then eventually reassigned to Brooklyn. While there, he apprenticed himself to Herbie Nichols, the iconoclastic bebop pianist, and composer. He stayed in New York after being discharged, and in 1965 he joined the “Merv Griffin Show” band. A few years later he became a member of the “Dick Cavett Show” ensemble. He did a short stint with the rock group Ten Wheel Drive before the influential producer John Hammond signed Manhattan Wildlife Refuge to Columbia.
Professional Career

Discography As leader In Love Again (as William Russell Watrous with the Richard Behrke Strings) (MTA, 1964) Plays Love Themes for the Underground, the Establishment & Other Sub Cultures Not Yet Known (With the Walter Raim Concept) (MTA, 1969) Bone Straight Ahead (Famous Door, 1973) Manhattan Wildlife Refuge (Columbia, 1974) The Tiger of San Pedro (Columbia, 1975) Funk 'n' Fun (Yupiteru, 1979) Watrous in Hollywood (Famous Door, 1979) Coronary Trombossa! (Famous Door, 1980) I'll Play for You (Famous Door, 1980) La Zorra (Famous Door, 1980) Bill Watrous in London (Mole Jazz, 1982) Roaring Back to New York, New York (Famous Door, 1983) Bill Watrous and Carl Fontana (Atlas, 1984) Someplace Else (Soundwings, 1986) Reflections (Soundwings, 1987) Bone-Ified (GNP Crescendo, 1992) Time for Love (GNP Crescendo, 1993) Space Available (Double-Time, 1997) Live at the Blue Note (Half Note, 2000) Living in the Moment with The Gary Urwin Jazz Orchestra (Sea Breeze, 2003) Live in Living Comfort (Stonequake, 2003) Mad to the Bone with The Rob Stoneback Big Band (Stonequake, 2003) Kindred Spirits with The Gary Urwin Jazz Orchestra (Summit, 2006) As sideman With Deodato Prelude (CTI, 1973) With Kenny Burrell Blues - The Common Ground (Verve, 1968) With Paul Desmond Summertime (A&M/CTI, 1968) With Maynard Ferguson The Blues Roar (Mainstream, 1965) With Quincy Jones Golden Boy (Mercury, 1964) Roots (A&M, 1977) With O'Donel Levy Dawn of a New Day (Groove Merchant, 1973) Simba (Groove Merchant, 1974) With Milton Nascimento Courage (A&M/CTI, 1969) With Jimmy Witherspoon Blues for Easy Livers (Prestige, 1965) With Red Rodney The Red Tornado (Muse, 1975) With Arturo Sandoval Dream Come True (1993) With Kai Winding Modern Country (Verve, 1964) The In Instrumentals (Verve, 1965) More Brass (Verve, 1966) Dirty Dog (Verve, 1966) Penny Lane & Time (Verve, 1967) Trombone Summit (MPS,1980) With Pennsbury Concert Jazz Band Then & Now (2013) 'With Ingrid James and San Gabriel 7 (JGS-SG7, 2012)
07/2

2018

Death

July 2, 2018

Death date

Unknown
Cause of death

Unknown
Death location

ADVERTISEMENT BY
Obituary

Bill Watrous, Trombonist and Bandleader, Is Dead at 79 By Giovanni Russonello July 11, 2018 Bill Watrous, whose crisp and graceful playing made him one of the world’s most respected trombonists, died on July 2 at a hospital in Los Angeles. He was 79. His sister, Sheila Watrous Wright, confirmed the death but did not specify the cause. Mr. Watrous was heard often on studio recordings by artists like Quincy Jones, Prince, and Frank Sinatra. But over a nearly 50-year career as a bandleader, he also released more than a dozen albums under his own name, spotlighting his eloquent playing in a range of contexts. For a time in the 1970s he led a jazz-rock big band, Manhattan Wildlife Refuge, which released two albums on Columbia Records. Mr. Watrous’s professional career began in the 1960s when he played in ensembles led by the trumpeter Billy Butterfield and the trombonist Kai Winding and contributed to albums by the likes of Woody Herman, Wes Montgomery, Milton Nascimento, and Chick Corea. Reviewing a performance by the Bill Berry-Willis Conover Jazz Band in 1971, John S. Wilson of The New York Times wrote that Mr. Watrous’s “slippery trombone virtuosity brought down the house.” After relocating to Los Angeles in 1977, Mr. Watrous became an in-demand session player, heard on dozens of albums and television scores, including Mr. Jones’s acclaimed soundtrack to the popular mini-series “Roots.” He later taught at the University of Southern California for two decades, retiring in 2015. In addition to Ms. Wright, Mr. Watrous is survived by his wife, Maryann; their son, Jason; two daughters, Melody Watrous Ide and Cheryl Schoolcraft, from a previous marriage, which ended in divorce; and a brother, Paul. William Russell Watrous was born on June 8, 1939, in Middletown, Conn., and raised in Niantic, Conn. His father, Ralph, a trombonist who had played in vaudeville and regional bands, became his first role model. His mother, Edna (Little) Watrous, was a nurse and the head of the local nursing association. The younger Mr. Watrous played with traditional jazz groups around Connecticut before joining the Navy at 18. He was assigned to a Navy Band unit in San Diego, then eventually reassigned to Brooklyn. While there, he apprenticed himself to Herbie Nichols, the iconoclastic bebop pianist, and composer. He stayed in New York after being discharged, and in 1965 he joined the “Merv Griffin Show” band. A few years later he became a member of the “Dick Cavett Show” ensemble. He did a short stint with the rock group Ten Wheel Drive before the influential producer John Hammond signed Manhattan Wildlife Refuge to Columbia. That band released two albums of swirling, up-tempo fusion — a rough hybrid of early Return to Forever, Herbie Hancock’s Mwandishi, and Chicago. It was not a major commercial success, but it cemented Mr. Watrous’s reputation as a composer and bandleader as well as a virtuoso instrumentalist. Few knew about his talents at another kind of swing: As a teenager, Mr. Watrous had been briefly scouted by the New York Yankees, and in the early 1980s, when he was in his mid-40s, he even contemplated joining a minor-league baseball team. On a visit to Texas, Mr. Watrous casually took batting practice with the Double-A Midland Cubs. After he hit more than two dozen balls over the fence, the team’s manager offered him a spot in the lineup as the designated hitter. “They were serious, but it would have been $540 a month, riding the bus and playing in the middle of nowhere,” he later recalled in an interview with The Los Angeles Times. “But for a while there I felt like Robert Redford in ‘The Natural.’ I still feel the pangs.” The music world would have missed him: For most of his career, in addition to his work at U.S.C., Mr. Watrous gave frequent masterclasses across the country. He also wrote an instruction book, “Trombonisms,” with Alan Raph. A jazz festival at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Tex., where he frequently performed and taught, was named after him.

ADVERTISEMENT BY
Looking for more information?
share

Memories

below